Madonna Says Her Quotes at D.C. Rally were Taken ‘Wildly Out of Context’

Madonna insists the remarks she made at the Washington, D.C. march on Saturday (Jan. 21) have been “taken wildly out of context.” During the event, Madonna took to the podium and declared that she had been so upset after the election she thought “an awful lot about blowing up the White House.”

“I am not a violent person,” she wrote on Instagram in response to the negative reactions following her speech. “I do not promote violence and it’s important people hear and understand my speech in it’s entirety rather than one phrase taken wildly out of context.”

She summarized her speech and explained how she was speaking in “metaphor” when she talked about taking violent action. “My speech began with , ‘I want to start a revolution of love,'” she wrote. “I then go on to take this opportunity to encourage women and all marginalized people to not fall into despair but rather to come together and use it as a starting point for unity and to create positive change in the world. I spoke in metaphor and I shared two ways of looking at things — one was to be hopeful, and one was to feel anger and outrage, which I have personally felt.”

Madonna concluded by emphasizing that the most effective method of enacting change is through love, not hate. “I know that acting out of anger doesn’t solve anything. And the only way to change things for the better is to do it with love. It was truly an honor to be part of an audience chanting ‘we choose love.”